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Mary Ann Shadd
Early Life Mary Ann Shadd was born on October 9th 1823 to free parents in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. She died on June 5th 1893 after suffering from stomach cancer in Washington DC. She as the eldest of 13 children and was educated by Quakers in Pennsylvania (a school which stressed universal fellowship, the evils of slavery and the value of learning) after moving there at the age of 10. She followed in the footsteps of her activist parents (whose home had been a safe house on the Underground Railroad) and she pursued community activism after settling in Canada. She wrote booklets which expressed the advantages of Canada for settlers who were thinking of moving north. Family Life As mentioned above, Mary Ann Shadd was the eldest of 13 children and born to free parents. Her father Abraham was a shoemaker whose father was the son of a free black woman and a German soldier. This resulted in Mary Ann being light coloured and biracial which helped her/her family out financially and socially. Her father (who was a free African-American abolitionist and civil rights activist) became Canada’s first black elected official. She married Thomas Cary from Toronto at 32 in 1856. He was a barber who owned his own business. He had been married before and already had 3 children. The two themselves had two children (Sarah and Linton) but Thomas died before Linton was born. Her son would die a year before she would and her daughter would eventually write an essay about Mary Ann which would be published in a book. Why she was famous Mary Ann Shadd was mainly famous for being the first female newspaper publisher in Canada, for being the first female journalists in Canada and for being the second African-American Woman to earn a law degree, after graduating from Howard University although she did have many other tremendous achievements as well. She was designated as a Person of National Historic Significance in Canada because of these achievements. What were some of her other achievements? * Setting up a racially integrated school open to all who could afford to attend (as education was not publicly provided at that time) * Writing educational booklets and newspapers to inform African Americans of Canada’s opportunities * Shadd, who opposed segregated schools for black children, engaged in a heated debate with Henry and Mary Bibb, who favoured segregation. * She joined efforts to gain women's suffrage (the vote) and was herself the first Black woman to vote in a national election. * Organized a campaign in Washington allowing women to invest their money; this was so they would not be financially dependant on men. * She was also a teacher Although those are only some of her known achievements, there were probably also a few the public never found out about as well. 5 Interesting Facts 1) The University of Windsor has a sculpture of her outside of the school of social work building. 2) Cary’s home is a historical landmark in Washington, D.C., which is her final resting place. 3) While she may have been eccentric at times, she was a woman of kind disposition. 4) Nearby in Buxton, a settlement pioneered by escaped slaves has her printing press on display at the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum 5) When historians talk about women in the Underground Railroad, Shadd Cary’s name is spoken in the same breath as Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth